Curvy Snowman

You know how when October hits the rest of the year is a blur? One day you're talking with your children about Halloween costumes and the next thing you know you're waking up and it's New Year's?  Yep, that's what's about to happen, tomorrow is October 1, and I can already feel myself slipping behind on all that needs to be done!  The plan is to go one day at a time, try to get it done but not to stress about 'not getting it done'.  Why am I telling you all this now?? Well a lot of what I'm doing I won't be posting on my blog....at least not right away :)  I'm so excited about all the fun projects I have in store and I'm hopping not to slip on posting daily, but if I do, I know you'll understand :)  It's one of those things that I'm not going to stress about. 

Today I have the sweetest (he's filled with chocolate!), cutest little snowman.  I almost turned him into Olaf, but then had a moment of reality.  We're trying to tone the 'Frozen Obsession' down in our home.  Megan has gotten a little out of control lately........a lot out of control.....so we're working on focusing on other things and not so much of Elsa, Anna and the crew.  Not that there's anything wrong with her love of the movie, it's just when she started talking in quotes from the movie at the dinner table, we knew that we had to cut back :)  So I decided not to reignite the fire by turning him into Olaf, he's just a regular snowman :)  I saw this snowman and LOVED it!  Of course I had to make my own! 

Of course he's made from the Curvy Keepsake Die.  Three of them actually!  The most challenging part of him was how to attach the boxes.  I used tombow to attach the bottom two, but that got a little messy, so I tried glue dots, less messy but I'm not sure the bond is a strong as the bottom two.  I think in the end, the glue dots are the better choice.  Of course after he was put together I had a brilliant idea of how to stack them....that will be for next time.  My thought was if you cut a hole in the bottom of the box you can pull the tab at the top of the box through the hole and glue it to the inside of the box.  Then add candy.  I haven't tried that, it's just what occured to me AFTER I had stuck them together.  Now the most tragic part of this cute creation, is that if you want the chocolate inside he has to be taken apart and destroyed......perhaps next time I'll create 'hidden doors' on his back so that he doesn't have to mutilated  :)  How can you not love that smile! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

I'll Drink To That!

I had a punch art class over the weekend.  I'll share those cards soon :)  Today though I have some really cute cards that I made from the Making Spirits Bright set in the Holiday Catalog.  I have one card for the three upcoming holidays, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  The cards are all simliar, just a different stamp used.  You could mass produce any of these in no time!

The drinks and all their fun accessories are colored with the Stampin' Write Markers.  I added buttons and ribbons to all of them, in their coordinating colors.  Except the Christmas one I didn't have a Real Red Button so I used a white one instead. 


For all the drinks I wanted them to look a little sparkly and not so translucent.  I used my Vanilla Smootch Spritz and sprayed some in a plastic cup then used a paint brush to brush the liquid in the cups.  Once that was dry I covered the glasses with Crystal Effects so that they looked and felt like real glasses. 

Vellum Pumpkins

Remember this post?  I warned you that you were going to want, no NEED this Curvy Keepsake Box Die.  If that glitter covered apple didn't convince you then this will....don't say I didn't warn you!  At first glance these pumpkins look like regular pumpkins.  They're great filled with candy but they're even better when they're lit up......

OH. MY. GRAVY. IT'S. SO. FLIPPIN. CUTE!!!!!!!!  I have battery powered tea light candles in them.  Please make sure they're battery powered.  Seriously you wouldn't think I'd have to say it but you never know, this is paper, it will burn, use a fake candle.  But how awesome do the look lit up!!!  I cut the boxes out of vellum then used my brayer and colored the vellum with Pumpkin Pie ink.  Then when you turn the candle on the you can see the light through it.  For the faces I followed the instructions of my friend, and fellow demonstrator, Karen Titus.  Not only is Karen my friend but she's my up, up, upline, I'm in her 3rd level of downline, confused yet?  Anyway these pumpkins are SO CUTE!!!  I just love it!!!  Don't you agree that you NEED this die???!!     

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

Snow, Elfs and Christmas

You're probably getting tired of seeing my MDS posts :) Don't worry this is the last day.  Tomorrow we'll get back to stamping :)  As much as I love MDS, paper crafting is always my first passion.  Though I do love these pages :)  First is some pictures from a small snowstorm in November of last year.  It wasn't a big storm, for those of you say in Minnesota or even further north, you probably wouldn't even blink an eye at the minimal amount of snow we got.  But remember I live in New Mexico, when it snows, even less than an inch the city shuts down....no joke....schools get cancelled, city offices close.  It's pretty crazy :)  But since we see snow so infrequently it's always exciting when it does snow.  The kids played for most of the morning.  Whether it's 1 inch or 10 inches the best part is the fun and memories.  I love the circles on this page and the glitter snowflakes! 

Do you do the Elf on the Shelf thing at your house?  It kind of happened accidently at our house.  We got our elf after Christmas a couple years ago, it was on clearance at Target.  Had I known the trouble he'd get into every stinkin' night I might have rethought that purchase.  But the kids LOVE him.  WHEN I remember to move him around, (that's a big when-typically last year it was one of those middle of the night thoughts "OH CRAP I DIDN'T MOVE THAT ELF!"), but when I remembered he was usually posed really cute.  This year, though, I think our elf may show up a little later and I'd like it if he brought some ideas of some Christmas service projects we can do.  Perhaps if the ELF suggests it the kids will be more excited to do it........let's see how organized I get......

Finally it's Christmas, which is pretty much the end of 2013!  There are a couple more pages, Christmas morning, etc.  But I'll share those another time.  This picture with the kids dressed for church on Christmas Eve is too cute!!!!  Time to start my 2014 album!  YIKES 2014 is almost over!  Maybe I can catch up! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Balloons, Birthdays and Halloween

We've reached October in my 2013 album, the end is clearly in sight now!!!!  October in New Mexico means one thing, Balloon Fiesta.  It's quickly become a favorite event of the kids.  While Megan still doesn't like the sound of the burners she loves the balloons in the air.  Logan loves the whole thing, from the balloon on the ground to them up in the air.  Last year at the Balloon Fiesta I tried not to take as many pictures as I've taken in the past.  The year before I think I took nearly 200 pictures.  I spent more time doing that then just enjoying myself.  Last year I think I only took about 100 pictures :) I love the blues in the pictures, it's so vibrant!  I kept the background simple with just some clouds.  FUN!! 

October also means Megan's birthday, it's hard to believe she's almost 4!!!!  She's grown so much since these pictures!  We did a simple family celebration for her birthday, we had people over to our house and just chatted and played.  I'm all about the low key!  We'll see what we do this year, nothing has been planned.....This page is simple too, no journaling, I didn't think it needed any.  Can I just say though how much I LOVE that glitter 3!!!!!  It's a punch that a paper filled with some glimmer paper.  It's a download that you NEED!!!!

Finally it's Halloween.  I have lots of Halloween downloads :) these pages are always simple.  I just plug in my Halloween elements :)  I love using green and purples for Halloween.  I have one more day of MDS to share with you.  I've really enjoyed all the MDS pages I've done in the last week :) 

Thanks for looking, se you soon!!!!

Reading, Soccer and Pumpkins

Like I said yesterday I've been MDSing all weekend and I'm so super duper excited to share that I'm on my last few pages of my 2013 album.  I'm excited to see it printed especially because some of the pages I've done in the last few days have been some of my favorites :)  None of the pages are super complicated.  This entire albums theme has been simple pages.  There's not a lot of journaling on any of the pages, they're really just about the pictures :)  This first page was about exactly one year ago when Logan won the summer reading award (he won this year too).  He's such a little book worm this kid of mine!  This page was really simple I used the books from the All Time Fave download.  A quick chevron background and this page was done.  SUPER cute!!!!

This page was a little time consuming because I placed all those hexagons one by one, clearly because some of them are a little off.  But I'm really, really ok with that.  I could go in and align them all perfectly but I'm not a perfectionist and I enjoy the small imperfections that make a project hand made.  Once the background was done I just added pictures and a greeting.  I did lots of color matching on this page though.  The green the background is color matched to the grass on the field, the 'soccer' is color matched to the blue New Mexico sky and 'season' is color matched to Dan's shirt.  I love that everything is tied together. 

Finally the last page for today is our trip to McCall's Pumpkin Patch.  It's a local pumpkin patch that we enjoy, I usually refer to it as "a pumpkin patch on steroids" because it's soooooo much more than pumpkins.  They have TONS of activities for kids.  There's a little train ride (Megan could not get enough of this!), they ride in little cow train cars, there a petting zoo, there's bike races, there's duck races, there's a huge playground, giant slides, this place has it all!!  When you're ready to get your pumpkin you take a hayride out to the patches.  It's a full day of fun with pumpkins at the end.  I used some Halloween paper on this page I covered most of the bats that were on this page with pictures and the 3 banners.  You can see a little piece of a bat next to the black banner, but it's in the bleed area so I'm not concerned about that one showing :)  I have a few more pages tomorrow.....and Thursday :)  Friday I have a super cute Halloween treat box you won't want to miss! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!   

New Baby-Not Mine!

I wanted to make sure I threw in that 'not mine' in the line :)  Though I love babies, we're not planning anymore.  But my friend Jenna is!  Yay Jenna!!  She asked me to help he plan some pregnancy announcements.  So we got together Friday morning and this is what we came up with.  They're all super cute, but I'd love to hear which is your favorite.  The first one with the hands is adorable and includes everyone in the family in on the announcement. 

This next one is one we were inspired from on Pintrest.  It came out super, super cute don't you think!?! 

This final one was specifically designed for the grandparents.  Jenna knows that they'll want to come visit as soon as the baby is born.  We made a boarding pass to make the announcement.  So cute!!!  I'm a little sad to say it's been a while.....months......since I've MDSed.  It was so great to get back into the program!  I spent the weekend making tons of pages and working on my 2013 album.  I've put it off for so long, I'm glad I'm finally inspired to work on it again!!! I'll be sharing lots of MDS pages this week!  Get ready! :)

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

Kind Butterfly

I'm a little bit in love with this card :)  This butterfly makes me happy.  I don't know if it's because it's so big and is a wonderful focal point for the card, or if it's because it's embossed-which I love, or if it's because it's water colored-which I love too, or maybe it's the awesome bright colors that I love!  Either way it's an amazing card.  The background is a mix of Kinda Eclectic and Gorgeous Grunge, both of which are my go to sets for backgrounds.  The greeting is embossed on vellum, because I wanted it to match the embossed butterfly, and because I really like embossing on vellum :)

For the butterfly, after I embossed it, I used my aqua painter and got it really wet.  Make sure you're doing this on watercolor paper!!!  Once the paper is wet all you have to do is drop in color and they blend and do their own thing all on it's own!  I started with Blackberry Bliss, then used Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo and Hello Honey.  I know these colors (perhaps with the exception of the Blackberry Bliss) look nothing like their original colors but that's because they've blended and mixed together.  I especially love the coraly/orangy  color that the Melon Mambo and Hello Honey created so pretty!!!!  Once it was dry (you can speed this step up with your heat tool) I cut out the butterfly and attached it to my card.  LOVELY!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!! 

Make A Wish

I debated back and forth, back and forth, back and forth about sharing this card.  In person I LOVE IT!!!  It's bright and the texture is incredible!  In pictures it was imposible to capture it!  I started with a piece of black cardstock and stamped and embossed lots of different elements in different colors.  I tried photographing this one card a million different ways, nothing showed the colors well, so you'll just have to take my word :)  The Pool Party and Blushing Bride embossing powders look A-MA-ZING on the black cardstock.  That pop of color really makes a difference.  Then I tried the Crushed Curry and Cherry Cobbler embossing powder and OH. MY. GOODNESS!!!!  It's wonderful!!!!

Finally the only picture that showed the colors (especially the Pool Party) was with the flash.  I really don't like using my flash I prefer natural light, which is usually abunant in New Mexico :)  I finally decided to share it because I love it!!!  Lot's of embossing and lot's of color but it's so fun!!!!  I stamped and embossed each color one at a time.  That worked best and I didn't end up mixing embossing powders that way.  I hope you try this color combo with your embossing powders.  It's really amazing in real life! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon! 

Grateful For Feathers

There's a lot, A LOT, of sets in the Holiday that I'm loving, this one, Four Feathers, is my current favorite!!!  The feathers are so fun to play with, and if you're hopping around Stampin' Up! blogs or if you're on Pintrest chances are you've seen at least a handful of cards using this set, probably even more!  This card is super simple, it would be great in a class.  I stamped 3 of the feathers in each of the colors Lost Lagoon, Hello Honey and Blackberry Bliss.  Then I stamped the greeting, from For All Things, in Versa mark and embossed it in gold. 

To bring out more of the gold I stapled some sequins to the top of the card.  Here's a trick to keep those sequins from falling off once you cut them.  If you have this spool of gold sequin ribbon you know what I'm talking about.  Use your Crystal Effects and put a small dot on the thread and the last sequin.  When the Crystal Effects dries, nothing is moving!  Plus it dries clear and shiny so you'll never know it's there!  I added some Blackberry Bliss ribbon just to finish things off.  Finally I thought it needed a little more shine so I sprayed it gently with some Vanilla Smooch Spritz.  Done!!  So pretty!!!

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

Santa-tizer

Tis the season....for getting sick!  Yes indeed the kids are back in school, everyone is stuck in a confined germ breading/sharing/spreading box for 6 hours a day.  As much as I try to enforce the washing hands thing, Logan's a boy and well sometimes he doesn't even notice the dirt on his hands much less icky, blucky, nasty germs he can't see!  Can you tell I'm anti-germ?  I know it's only going to get worse too as the days get colder, it's ineveitable! UGH!!! OK, I think that's probably enough of my ranting about our germs :)  This cute Santa-tizer might help scare away some of those germs!  If not at least it's CUTE!!!! I saw a larger bottle on Pintrest that was wrapped to look like Santa's belt, but I loved the tag on it: 

'Hand Santa-tizer

Santa tested. Elf Approved."

So cute!!!  I had to have that mine!!  The greeting was just printed on white cardstock on my printer.  Santa is stamped in Versa Mark and embossed in Black Embossing Powder on Watercolor paper.  Then I used my markers (Real Red, Smoky Slate and Blushing Bride) to color him, along with my aqua painter.  I got my measurements for this holder from Jill, here.  Why reinvent the wheel, it's all done!  The only thing I would change is I would use a 1 inch circle punch opposed to the 3/4 inch.  The 3/4 inch works but it's a tight fit :)  I stuck a small bottle of hand sanitizer that I got at Bath and Body Works.  Their bottles are the perfect size!!! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

It's A Punch Art Party

I'm so stinkin' excited about my Punch Art Class coming up.  I have 3 of the cards planned and they're flippin' CUTE!!!! Probably some of my favorite punch art EVER!!!  My blog today is sneak peeks from those three cards.  Here's more details on my class.  If you're local (Albuquerque area) please consider coming, the cards will be soooooo fun!!!  Enjoy the sneak peeks!!! 

PUNCH ART PARTY

Saturday, September 27 9:30am

St. John's Cathedral, 318 Silver SW on the corner of 3rd and Silver in downtown ABQ.

Make 4 cards with amazing punch art creations! This class is free with a $35 class order or $20. Last day to RSVP is September 24, 2014. I'm so excited!! Hope you can come!!!!

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

Swaps!

Well it's been a week since our meeting and I'm finally posting the swaps.  This months swap was a shoebox swap, that means you make one card for an example then bring all the supplies for everyone else to make your card.  It's such a fun night of stamping and laughing, lots of laughing.  This month only a few of us were able to come but the cards were great and the company great too!!!!  This months theme was the Holiday Catalog

This is Dana's card.  I love the use of the washi tape on this card.  So fun!!  We used the baby wipe technique to stamp the 'thanks'.

This is the front of Karen's card.  Karen's cards are always amazing!  She used the small note cards and we stuck them to the front of a standard size cards.  So it's really 2 cards :)  Thanks to Karen I ended up buying the new stapler in the Holiday Catalog 2 days later!  It's ok I LOVED it and I needed a stapler :) 

Here's the inside of the note card, don't you wish your closet was that organized :)

Finally, the inside of the standard size card.  So cute Karen!!!  I love it!!!! 

This was Amber's card.  I love that she took a Christmas stamp and made it an all occasion stamp!  Great idea!!!!  We used markers to color the trees. 

Cassie's card is next.  I love the gold embossing, you know me I'm currently overly obsessed with embossing!  This card is so sweet!  Recognize those trees, it's the same stamp Amber used! 

 



 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

You're A Star!

I'm an avid cardmaker, no huge shocker there.  You probably wouldn't be here if you didn't know that, however, although I make cards like a crazy card person I'm really bad.....horrible.....really horrible at mailing them.  Every year I say "This year I'm going to mail more cards....."  Guess how that goes?  This year was no exception, many cards never got in the mail.  This one I did manage to send.....over a month late :/  BUT I sent it!  It's progress, not huge progress, but progress and I'm happy with that! 

I saw a card similar to this on Pintrest.  They used a balloon die and hearts.  We'll I don't have a balloon die (though SU that would really be cute!!!) and I wanted to use stars instead.  I used my oval framelits to cut an oval in the corner then I used my small heart punch from the Itty Bitty Essentials and made the bottom of the balloon.  Super cute!!!!  I filled the balloon with stars from the same punch pack.  Super super cute!!!!  Of course no card is complete until it has glitter or shine, so the stars are all covered in a thin layer of Crystal Effects.  These colors are so fun together, I'm not a huge fan of 3 of them but together they all work.  I used Pear Pizzaz, Calypso Coral, Rose Red, Crushed Curry.  Any thoughts to which 3 I'm not a fan of using?????? 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Blendabilities Class

Over the weekend I had a Blendabilities Class. This was a smaller class than usual, just those who really wanted to learn about Blendabilities.  Everyone at the class received a package of markers-their color choice, and a stamp set (one of the three you'll see today) again their choice.  I also included a Memento pad for them.  I started the class with talking about our markers, what you can do with them, what you can't, etc.  Then I showed them a few short demonstrations on how to use them and blend them.  The rest of the class they colored.  They all got to make one make and take and take home lots of colored pieces to use on other cards.  These are the cards they got to make, depending on which stamp they choose. 

The cards are all pretty similar, they have the same layout and use the same supplies, they're just all set up a little different.  I included rhinestones for everyone that they could color with their Blendabilities.  I think that was one of the most exciting things they learned was that you can color your accessories to match!!  I know that's one of the things I love most! 

This class was so much fun, we all sat around and colored and chatted.  It was very relaxed and I loved seeing every one's creations.  Thinking back I should have taken my camera.  Everyone did a great job coloring and blending.  I think once you use the markers they really sell themselves.  They're so much fun.  If you haven't tried them yet, go get a package and try it.  You'll love it!! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Here For You

First of all, I must apologize for the bad pictures today.  These pictures were taken early one morning.  The card was made the night before, too dark to take pictures but it had to be mailed the next day.  So pictures were taken early, in the wrong camera setting...thanks kids :( So not only are they a little blurry but they're also color washed.  UGH!  So my apologies.  But I loved this idea and I still wanted to share it.  This card was made for my friend who recently lost her father, sympathy cards are THE HARDEST cards to make!  I don't even keep a stock of them, though thankfully {knocking on wood} I don't have to make very many of them. 

This card is colored with the markers, I used Pink Pirouette, Strawberry Slush, So Saffron Daffodil Delight, Pistachio Pudding and Pear Pizazz.  I pulled out my Apothecary Art stamp set, it's a great one for beautiful cards.  I also used my matching framelits.  To add some shine to this card I used Crystal Effects over all the flowers.  It gives them a wonderful glossy look. 

I love this card because it's a card in a card.  Gotta love that!  The outside is Pistachio Pudding with frame cut of the front.  The stamping is all adhered to the inside card, which the outside frames nicely.  I have lots to share this week, I have our swaps from last week and my samples from my Blendabilities class over the weekend.  Check back all week!!! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Punch Art, It's Back!

Not that punch art ever really leaves my life, but I feel like it's been a while since I've put tiny punched pieces together to form one fantastic piece :)  I have a punch class coming up soon (more details below).  I don't know why but I always feel that my punch classes take more prep time than any other class (with the exception of my Christmas Stamp a Stack).  I normally start figuring out my cards for my punch class weeks in advance.  This card, though stinkin' cute won't be featured at my class.  There's not a lot of tips and tricks for this card.  I saw this card made by Steffi from, I'm guessing based on the language of the blog, Germany.  Her card was perfect and I had to recreate it! 

The bird and branches are obviously from the Builder Bird Punch.  I used the heart from the Itty Bitty Essentials pack.  And for the bird house, it's a 1 1/4 square piece in white for the bottom, and the same size in chocolate chip for the top.  I used my Scallop Border punch to add that edge.    I'm so excited about my class.  If you're local (Albuquerque area) please consider coming, the cards will be soooooo fun!!!  Here's all the details!

PUNCH ART PARTY

Saturday, September 27 9:30am

St. John's Cathedral, 318 Silver SW on the corner of 3rd and Silver in downtown ABQ. 

Make 4 cards with amazing punch art creations! This class is free with a $35 class order or $20. Last day to RSVP is September 24, 2014.  I'm so excited!!  Hope you can come!!!!

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

Glimmery Star

Tonight is our demonstrator meeting and it's a shoebox swap.  That means that we spend the entire meeting stamping.  You made a card, and bring supplies for everyone to make your card.  The boxes get passed around and by the end of the night you're left with a stack of beautiful cards!!  This is my swap for tonight.  I love it!!!  It's simple but stunning, I adore this card!!!  I'm having a slight obsession right now with our glimmer paper :)  Normally I'm not allowed to use glitter at our meetings, let's just say that a few years ago there was an accident with an entire brand new container of Dazzling Diamonds glitter, some carpet, and me.....ever since then I'm not allowed to use glitter at the meetings, but glitter paper is ok!!!!!  Yay!!!! 

I used the star framelit to cut out the star in the card, the glimmer paper is attached with dimensionals so you get that nice shadow on it.  To finish the card we used the greeting from the new Bright and Beautiful Set, colored with a Chocolate Chip and Real Red Marker.  Finally to finish the card I added some ribbon and a few of the Frosted Sequins from the Holiday Catalog.  I LOVE THESE THINGS!!!!  LOVE!!!! Check back next week to see the rest of the swaps!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

An Apple A Day

This Curvy Keepsake Box Thinlit Die wasn't on my wishlist at first.  Then I saw one cute box with it, then I saw another, then the flood of creativity hit and before I knew it people were turning this sweet box into amazing art creations, like Santa's belly, a cat for Halloween, a bunny, an elephant, a witch...I could go on.  Instantly I knew this was a die I wasn't going to live without!  I started off small with an apple, but it's the most adorable apple ever!!!!  This would make THE MOST ADORABLE teachers gift!!  I started with the the apple made in just Real Red Cardstock.  I didn't stamp it, sponge it, or do anything to it.  I still wasn't feeling my creativity 100% from being sick.  Once it was done, it was stinkin' adorable I loved it instantly!!!  Then I broke out my Real Red Glimmer Paper.....oh yeah, you see where I was headed!!!!

If you think the cardstock apple is cute, the glimmer paper apple is out of this world!!!!!  It's so sparkly and beautiful, it brings joy to my life to see something with that much glitter on it :)  Every time I look at it, it reminds me of Snow White's apple. This one is WAY safer, definitely dwarf approved!!!!  If this die isn't on your wishlist, put it there, no joking, I'm going to show a bazillion ideas with it and you might regret not having it......just sayin'  You can order it here. 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!