Goodbye 2012!

Can you believe we made it to the last day of 2012!?!  This year has flown by, the kids have grown by leaps and bounds in every way.  I'm sure in just one year we'll be in this spot and I'll be saying the same thing.  It's so true though, how time flies.  I'm reminded by something a friend mentioned to me (she saw it on Toddlers and Tiara's....I think that was the show she said....don't judge it's a great saying), she said "The days are long but the years are fast."  How true, how true.  Though I enjoyed my week off last week I wasn't as productive as I had hoped to be, at least not in the stamping sense.  There was always something 'to do' and when there wasn't there was time with Logan and Megan. But I did manage to find a couple hours one day and whip up a few cards with NEW stuff!!!!!  YEAH!!!!!  So over the next 3 days I'll share them with you.  Today's card was inspired by about 3 different cards from Pintrest.  The stamp set is one of the new Sale A Bration sets!!!  Check out the button and ribbon too!  Also a Sale a Bration item! 

The ribbon and button pack is just so yummy!!!!!!  You get 3 colors of buttons and ribbon, Calypso Coral (featured here), Pool Party and Rich Razzleberry.  The ribbon is a satin ribbon and is so so so fun to use.  Make sure you also note the mini butterfly punch and large rhinestones!!!!  Both in the new Spring Catalog going live on Friday!!!!  The mini butterfly is just amazing and so fun!  The large rhinestones are something I had hoped SU would carry with the last annual catalog but I'm happy they're here now!!!  Check back tomorrow for another fun sneak peak.  If you're going out celebrating tonight make sure you're safe!  Have a wonderful New Year and here's to a stamptastic 2013!!!!

 

Thanks for looking see you soon!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Christmas Eve has finally arrived.  I have some pretty excited kiddos in my house!!!!!  Here's the MDS Christmas card I mailed this year.  I did a 5x7 post card and with MDS you get to design both sides!!! LOVE THAT!!!!  Usually I make all my cards, but this year I took advantage of the MDS sale earlier this year and tried out the 'photo card'.  I like it, and did get many compliments on it, but in the end I think I prefer a real card :)  Look for a hybrid version next year though :) 

I will be taking the week off from my blog.  I'm hoping to get in a lot of stamping and MDSing done on this Christmas break, Dan is off until the New Year so we're hoping to fit in lots of family time too.  With all that it leaves my blog a little unpredictable, so I decided just to take the week off.  BUT make sure you check back next week, I'll have lots of new projects to show you!!!!  I have tons of new Spring Catalog and Sale a Bration products that are just waiting to be used!!!  Have a wonderful, safe and joyous Christmas!!! See you in a week!!!!

 

Thanks for looking see you soon!!!!!

Christmas Cards Worth Sharing

This week I've received a couple of really cute Christmas cards from friends so I thought I'd share them.  The first one, is made by Kim M.  How cute is that owl!!!?!  Don't you just love the Santa hat and the one stocking.  CUTE!!!  Love it!!!!!

The next one is from my downline Michelle C.  So cute!!!  I just love the ribbon to make the stripes on the candy cane!!!  So cute!!!!  Great job ladies!!!!!  Hate to keep it short and run, but Christmas is just a few days away, Logan is presenting a book he wrote at an assembly at school today and well I have a 2 year old.  All good reasons why I need to run!  Have a great weekend!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Teacher Gifts

This years teacher gifts are so cute!!  I love them, Logan's teacher loved them too.  Along with this stack of cards I included this stocking filled with candy and pens and dry erase markers for Logan's teacher.  There are 12 cards in the stack and I used the pre-made note cards and envelopes-EASY and quick.

The front of the cards was done in MDS (what else!) and then I just cut them out and attached them the front of the cards with dimensionals.  Super easy and quick-this time of year quick is essential!!!  The cards were inspired by Heather Summers and her MDS Christmas class.  Hope you like today's quick post!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

SWEET Boxes!

They're so stinkin' cute!!!!  And what's inside is oh so yummy!!!!!  They're filled with (homemade of course) fudge, chocolate truffles--which I make every year and if I do say so, they are the best ;)  This year I tried a new recipe, Christmas Crack and it's OH MY GOODNESS DELICIOUS!!!!!  SO GOOD!!!  I may regret knowing this recipe :)  Here's the recipe if you want it, BUT don't say I didn't warn you (ps it's the 2nd cookie in the post).  But anyway, you're here to see the beautiful boxes.  These boxes are for Dan's co workers on his small team at work. 

 

The boxes are so fast to put together.  First start with a pre made box, that's really a key step!  I used SU's Kraft Gift Boxes, they're so easy, affordable and they're the perfect size!  Next wrap DSP around the box, and on top.  Add a cute tag with some die cut ornaments and you're done!  Oh wait, tie some super cute tulle ribbon on the top! Super cute and easy!!!  Didn't I tell you it would be!!!?!  The ornaments are done with the Ornament Keepsakes set and die from the Holiday Catalog.  I used 3 for each tag, fold them in half and glue each half to another half, does that even make sense?!  Clearly by my rambling I've had too much Christmas Crack :) so I'm going to end this post while I'm still thinking clearly (well kind of clearly)   :)

 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Tea Room Earrings

If you're a resident of Albuquerque you may have been to the St. James Tea Room.  If you live here but haven't gone let me know I'll go with you :)  If you're traveling here make sure to put it on your list of things to do.  It's a yummy, wonderful place that has the perfect atmosphere and the most delicious tea and food.  I've never been to Great Britain so I don't know if our humble tea room is anything like tea there but I sure love our little spot.  You get 2 hours of tea and fellowship with your tea buddies.  I love that place!  Anyway, in the Spring Catalog there are these adorable little Tea Time Trinkets.  You get 5 charms, they're so fun!!!!  So when I saw these in the catalog I knew for sure I needed to make some special 'Tea Room Earrings'.  Now I just have to make reservations and I'm set to go!!!! 

 

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

No Words.....

As much as I'd love to have a cute Christmas project to spark your creativity today, I have none.  I've found it hard to focus on stamping or anything creative all weekend, as I'm sure you have as well.  Friday I spent watching the news until I was sick to my stomach and had to turn it off.  The unspeakable tragedy in Connecticut is horrifying on so many levels.  I've spent extra time this weekend hugging each of my children, and as Logan heads off to school today he won't leave without knowing how much we love him.  Logan is unaware of what happened.  I wasn't sure how to tell him or even if, and after some research I was lead to the conclusion that he doesn't need to know.  As hard as it's been we've kept him from hearing reports or seeing news footage.  This is too much for a 6 year old to understand, at 31 I don't even understand it.  So instead of posting a project today I leave you with this quote borrowed from my friends facebook page:

This quote from William Golding (author of Lord of the Flies) is quite fitting.

 "We need more humanity, more care, more love. There are those who expect a political system to produce that; and others who expect the love to produce the system. My own faith is that the truth of the future lies between the two and we shall behave humanly and a bit humanely, stumbling along, haphazardly generous and gallant, foolishly and meanly wise until the rape of our planet is seen to be the preposterous folly that it is."

 

Tomorrow I'll be back with a project, today hug your kids, pray for those that lost theirs and pray that these forms of senseless violence will come to an end.

 

Elf Kisses

It's blog hop time!!!!  I'm excited about this month's blog hop!  We have a new member, my upline Amber started a blog and I can't wait to see what wonderful projects she'll create!  In the meantime of course I have a project for our blog hop.  This month's theme was Christmas projects-pretty much anything Christmas.  Well I had planned on a fun ornament, I always try to make one every year, but then it hit me I ONLY HAVE A WEEK UNTIL LOGAN'S OUT OF SCHOOL!!!!!  The mad rush began for getting teacher gifts and classmate gifts done.  I know what I'm doing for Logan's teacher but to be honest the classmate's never occurred to me!  BUT I did have some ideas and since they're gifts for 6-7 year olds I wanted them fast and simple.  Still made with just as much love and care as a big elaborate gift but simple.  So I made some treat bags with some 'Elf Kisses' in them. 

 

I love the tags, I love the Real Red with the torn Gumball Green cardstock.  I don't know why but I think it's very elf like.  The bottom of all the kisses have a fun holiday greeting on the bottom of them, just some added fun (and cuteness)!!!  The little poem on the front says "With little elf eyes watching you there is not a lot Santa misses.  So to help you be good today here is a bunch of sweet elf kisses!"  So cute and I think very appropriate for 6 and 7 year olds :) 

Time to hop along on our Ladybug INK blog hop.  Next up on the list is my upline Amber!  Hop over to her blog and check it out.  If you get lost along the way here's a line up of the hop so you can check out every one's amazing work!!!!

 

Ruth Norton YOU ARE HERE!!!
Amber Wilson
Nichole Gonzales Jaramillo
Kay Jantz
Liz Kay
Carmelita Wasson
Cassie Rogers

Have fun, I'm sure you in for tons of holiday inspiration!!!

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

Loving Stampin' Up!

What a great title!  All my posts should be titled that!  Stampin' Up! made a really cute holiday video to brighten your day.  You can check it out below!  So fun! But for today's fun and simple card.  There are major sneak peeks on this card.  First and probably the most obvious CHECK OUT THE SUPER CUTE BABY CURLY LABEL PUNCH!!!  SO FLIPPIN' CUTE!!!!!!  I love it!!!  You can earn this punch free during Sale A Bration!! CUTE!!!  The stamp is also a Sale A Bration item.  The 'love' stamp is from a set in the Spring Catalog.  This card is super simple and super cute!!!  Have fun checking out this fun video!!


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

It's Spectacular!

I can't believe we're already in the middle of December.  Christmas is only a couple weeks away!  So exciting!!!!  But as we near the end of the year we also approach an amazingly exciting time in the SU world.  Sale a Bration is right around the corner and just over a month away!!!!!  WHHOOOO HOOOOO!!!!  If you're familiar with Sale a Bration I'm sure you're just as excited as I am.  If you're not familar with Sale a Bration brace yourself for the most exciting time (next to the new catalog release of course) ever!  During Sale a Bration you get to choose an exclusive Sale a Bration product for every $50 you spend!  This year the products are amazing!  There's DSP, ribbon, buttons, embossing folders, a super cute punch, MDS downloads and of course stamp sets!!!!  This super cute set on today's card is one of the Sale a Bration sets you can get free-isn't it cute!!!!?!?!?

 

Want even more fun Sale a Bration news??!  It's so exciting I can't stand it!!!  Come use this set along with even more of the Sale a Bration products at our annual Sale a Bration Stamp Camp!  This year it will be Spectacular!!!  You won't want to miss this class!  It will be Saturday, January 26, 2013.  You'll make 6 amazing cards, there will be door prizes, samples and so so so much more!!!  Sign up here and make sure you sign up early to get the early bird price!!!  All the details are on the sign up page.  On another note, here's my stamping helper yesterday.  Stamping is very challenging when you have a little one hanging on your side and trying to protect your projects from that black crayon :)

 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Sweet Sneak Peak

I'm so excited to share this card with you!  I have a bunch of new products and tools on on this card to show you.  Where do I start...how about the DSP, isn't that the cutest sweetest DSP?  Wait until you see the rest of the package.  The name of the DSP is Sunshine and Sprinkles-how cute is that!  This might be my favorite DSP!  The butterfly is a new punch!!!  So so cute and it's a tiny butterfly!  It's so stinkin' adorable!!!!  The stamp set is from one of the new Sale a Bration sets! 

I love this card, I was inspired by this card that I saw on Pintrest.  I love the bright colors the fun patterns and everything about this card!!!  Stay tuned all week for more fun sneak peaks at the Spring Catalog and the Sale a Bration products!!! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Day Off....

...In the busy Christmas hustle and bustle I have no project for you today.  I have a desk full of brand new (I mean really new-Sale a Bration and Spring catalog new!!!).  I'll play with that today to have fun things to show you tomorrow.  I wanted to stamp over the weekend but, as it always does, it seems to have gotten away faster then I thought it would :)  But our Christmas shopping is just about done, our tree is up, our house is decorated, so other than stamping it was a productive weekend.  I hope you have a great Monday and make sure to check back tomorrow and the rest of the week for some fun stamped projects. :)

Unending Talent

I know that it's said every month, but it deserves to be said every month!  I am so proud to be in a group with such amazing demonstrator friends.  Not only is their talent off the charts but I am so glad to call everyone of them my friends.  These are relationships that wouldn't exist without SU!  I mentioned yesterday that Tuesday was our annual Christmas gift exchange.  We all bring one hand stamped gift and exchange them white elephant style, there's stealing and sometimes it gets ugly :)  But we all have a wonderful time and by the end of the evening we're left with amazing creations.  This year was no different.  The first project is an amazing glass shadow box done by Michelle C.  I had this briefly in my possession until it was stolen :)

 

The next one is something I think I need. It's a beautiful dry erase frame.  This one has spots for Notes, Goals and Order.  Something all demonstrators could use.  I love the flowers too, so pretty!!!  This was done by Amber. 

Here's a close up of one of the flowers. 

This next project is just beautiful and it was done by one of our newer demos.  Kathy who is Cassies downline made this wonderful tealight holder.  I also had this briefly in my possession too, yes it was stolen :)  Isn't it beautiful!?!  I just love it!!! 

Kay did a wonderful box of cards.  The box by itself was amazing!  I can't wait to make this box!!!!!  But each card inside was beautiful as well!

Finally the gift I got to keep, and I couldn't be more excited about this gift!  Perhaps I will stay slightly organized with this, we can only hope!  Cassie did these amazing cork boards.  She covered some cork boards with our fabric-isn't that a great idea!  I'm going to hang one in my stamp room (the green one) and one in the kitchen (the pear one).  I know the kitchen one will hold coupons, recipes, and more!  The one in my stamp room might hold cards, maybe notes, ideas, inspiration!  Who knows!  But I LOVE LOVE LOVE them!  Don't you agree that I work with some amazing demonstrators!!!?!

 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Do You Have The Time?

On Tuesday we had our annual Christmas gift exchange party/meeting.  I LOVE this meeting, probably my favorite of the year!  Every one's creativity shines through and the projects are always AMAZING!  This year was no different.  Come back tomorrow to see them all.  In the meantime, here's my project that I made.  I had about 5 other ideas for a project but none of them worked out well so I finally settled on this one, and it was pretty last minute I was working up to the last minute on it :)  In the end though I LOVE IT!  And I WILL be making another one for ME!  This sweet clock is so cute and so fun!!!!  I used a 6x6 canvas covered it with our fabric and added 12 buttons.  Fun and so cute!!!!  I LOVE IT!!!  Check back tomorrow the projects are amazing! 

 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Gift Card Numero 4!

I have the last gift card to show you from my class last weekend.  I think this one was my favorite.  There's lots of tutorials out there on how to make this double pocket card.  I'm going to show you my way, might not be the 'right' way but it works and it's super cute!!!!! 

I love the two pockets you could put in two gift cards!!!!  Here's how I did it.  I started with DSP that was 8 x 6.  Score down the center each way, so 4 on the 8 inch side and 3 on the 6 inch side. 

Here's a fun diagram to show you what to do next.  Cut along the 3 inch score line until you get to the 4 inch score line.  Fold 2 opposite corners, the top one you will fold almost to the score line, leave about 1/2 an inch between the score line and the edge of your paper.  The other you'll fold up to the score line. 

Fold the top left side over.... 

Fold the bottom up.....

Fold the left side flap around the back and secure with sticky strip, tombow or even SNAIL.  There you go, you now have a lovely little pocket card! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Gift Card Giving

I have two more gift cards to show you from the class on Saturday.  I think all 4 of the gift cards that we did at this class are some of my favorites from any of my gift card classes!  They're all fun and really not to complicated.  I think you could easily whip out a bunch of any of them!  This first one is so fun!  I was inspired by a card I saw on a blog.  I can't find it now, I'm so sorry if you're the creator all credit goes to you!   

It's made with the Two Tags die, when you cut your tag with the die make sure you fold it and put the fold below the cut line, you don't want two tags you want a folded tag.  I hope that makes sense, the picture might help.  After that you just create a little sleeve to put it in.  FUN!

The next one was requested by one of my customers.  She wanted a gift card holder that would hold multiple gift cards.  I thought this cute little 'book' would work perfectly.  This one holds 3 but if you need it to hold more you would just need to use a longer piece of cardstock and add more score lines.....or use front and back of the cardstock :)

It's just accordion folded in the middle and the gift cards are all attached to the cardstock.  Cute huh!?!  My first thought for this gift card holder was that this would be a great gift for a movie lover.  You could put in a movie gift card then a couple restaurant cards.  Then at my class it was mentioned that this would be great for all those teens in your life who only want cash.  Attach a few gift cards to a few of their favorite stores and your done!  So fun!  Tomorrow I'll have the last gift card holder.  The dimensions for both of these gift cards are below.  Have fun!

 

Two Tags Holder:

Tag holder-2 1/4 x 11 (score at 5 1/2 on the 11 inch side)

Wrap-5 1/2 x 4 (score at 2 1/2 and 5 on the 5 1/2 inch side)

 

Accordion Fold Holder:

White CS- 2 1/2 x 11 (score at 4 1/2, 5, 5 1/2, 6, and 6 1/2 on the 11 inch side)

Black CS-2 1/4 x 4 1/4

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Sparkling Santa!

Is there anything better than the glitter paper....nope I don't think there is!  Sorry for the wonky looking pictures.  As usual the weekend got away from me and I didn't get a chance to take pictures until after the kids bedtime.  But I hope you get the idea with the huge amount of sparkle on this project!  Saturday was my Christmas Gift Card Holder class.  This class is always popular.  Lots of people give out gift cards and want to package them in a cute way.  This one is one of my favorites from the class.  It's made with a standard size envelope, just fold it in half.  The red glitter paper is on the outside.....

...when you remove the belly band and open it this is what you get.  Make sure you cut the part of the envelope that seals is in half and glue half down.  Then you just stick your gift card and tag inside.  Isn't that just stinkin' cute!!!!?!  LOVE IT!!!!  I have TONS to share with you this week so make sure to check back everyday :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Sweet Stocking!

My final MDS holiday idea is probably my favorite.  Of course this is an idea that I copied from Martha Inchlay from Heather Summers MDS class.  I loved this idea so much that within minutes of seeing this I was online ordering the stocking punch so that I could create it!  REALLY I WAS!!!!  Then my computer crashed and well you know the rest :)  This little stocking couldn't be more fun and easy too!!!! 

To create it, I used and 8.5 x 11 base and made the stocking big enough to cover the entire page.  Once you have one designed you do an 'add duplicate page mirrored' to get the reverse image.  I printed them on iron on transfers.  Follow the directions on your transfer and iron it onto your fabric. 

Then it's just a quick run through the sewing machine, in my case I asked my mom for help.  She did it in a couple of minutes.  When it would have taken me much much much longer.  They're so cute!!!!  Logan wants to make one for the dog :)  This one I'll fill with chocolates, fun pens and markers and maybe a gift card or two for Logan's teacher for Christmas.  I'm so excited!!!  Tomorrow I have my Christmas gift card holder class.  This class is always popular and it's become quite the tradition!  I think this is the 3rd year I'm holding it.  I'll have those projects to show you next week. 

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

Coloring Cards

If you have small children you're probably like me and have stacks of half colored coloring books, crayons in the couches and drawings on the wall.  I learned this on Heather Summer's online MDS class.  She did the class with her friend Martha and they're both MDS geniuses!!!  Martha showed these fun coloring pages for kids.  So cute and they're all done in MDS with punches!!!  The punches are all color filled with white and you add a black mat to them and they look like coloring sheets!!  How fun!!!! 

I have 4 per page, once they're printed I'll mount them on cards and let the kids color them.  Isn't that a cute Christmas card for grandparents, friends, teachers, etc.  I think it's such a cute idea!!!!  After the kids color them I'll make sure to post the 'finished' cards.  The angel and bear are on both sheets-you can't have enough angels and bears on Christmas!!!  Update on the laptop drama....I have my laptop back, thank goodness!!!!!  All is good! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Logan's Joke Book

Yesterday I showed you Megan's Christmas Swatchbook.  Today is Logan's.  I thought long and hard about what kind of book Logan might like.  Then as it happens it became clear!  A JOKE BOOK!!  Logan is always telling jokes, most of which he makes up and they don't make any sense at all.  So I created a joke book with over 50 kid jokes for him. 

The pages are all super simple.  I used a swatchbook template and just changed out some of the DSP that I didn't like and added a few splatters.  That's it!!!!  All together this swatchbook only took about 30 minutes and the majority of that was typing the jokes and looking them up online.

If this joke book is a hit with him, I can always go back and plug in new jokes and have 'Logan's Book Of Jokes' edition 2 printed.  Super easy and fast!! 

Still no word on my computer returning home to me so tomorrow's post is still up in the air.  Check back though you never know :)  Thanks for hanging in there with me through my MDS crisis :)  Monday was the first day it was gone and the first day that I hadn't used MDS in weeks!!!  It was serious with drawl!  I just didn't know what to do with myself after the kids were in bed.  That's my MDS time!  Hopefully we'll return to normal soon :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Swatch Book Gifts!

So I've run into a few bumps in the road this week with my blog.  I'm hoping to keep posting as usual BUT if for some reason I can't here's what going on.  My laptop had to be taken in to get fixed yesterday.  It has a virus and is not functioning properly as you can image :(  I use MDS on my laptop!!!!  So you can only imagine my loss!!!  I backed up my MDS files that I just couldn't loose, so hopefully I won't loose anything but you never know.  I'm praying that my MDS files come out unharmed in this whole thing.  I won't get my computer back until this afternoon at the earliest but it might be Wednesday before I see it again.  So until I get it back I do have a couple things to show you.  I was able to get some pictures saved from the swatchbooks that I'm making for Logan and Megan this Christmas. 

 

Of course this is Megan's swatchbook :)  The swatchbooks are the prefect size for kids and they're so affordable to print!  Plus they're really durable so the kids aren't going to 'wreck' it in one day.  Megan has an ABC book.  So obviously each page has a different letter and picture to go with it. 

The pages are all really simple.  This book is for a 2 year old so the pages don't need to be elaborate or complicated.  The main thing is that Megan understands that L is for Lion, etc.  I had originally planned to show you Logan and Megan's swatch books together but instead I'll have to split it into 2 days and hope that I can get my computer back today :)  And HOPE HOPE HOPE that no important files were lost. 

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

MDS Christmas Kick Off!!!

It's my Christmas MDS kick off week!!!  I'm really excited for this week, I'm going to show you 5 different fun projects you can do in MDS and use for the holidays!  Today's first project is one that was inspired by something I saw in a magazine.  It was a cardboard Santa that everyday until Christmas you put a cotton ball on his beard, when his beard was full it would be Christmas!!!!  I created this one specifically with Megan in mind.  She's not old enough to understand some of our other advent calendars but this one, though she might not fully understand, she'd for sure have fun!!!  So everyday starting December 1st we'll glue a cotton ball to Santa's beard.  The Santa is made of circle punches.  Fun and easy right!?!?!  I hope you like today's project.  Keep checking back all week I have LOTS more to share!!!! 

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