C'mon Christmas!

Perhaps we should get through other holidays before Christmas 'really' gets here, BUT there's no reason why we can't start on our Christmas cards.  With this card, again, I'm showing you my brilliant copying skills.  I saw this card on Split coast stampers, gotta love splitcoast :)  But don't get me wrong I LOVE Stampin' Connection (a demonstrator only site), BUT my only concern with it is that the samples aren't organized well.  I would love it if it were organized by stamp set like splitcoast.  Then it would be PERFECT!!!  But back to this card.  I changed a couple things.  I wanted the look to be classy and elegant, when I'm going for that look, I pull out my black.  ANYTHING paired with black gives such a clean, beautiful look.  Then I stared at my ink pads, ribbon and cardstock trying to decide what color to use.  I went for one I haven't used in a while and have ribbon to match-Marina Mist.  So once the hard decisions were made I could stamp.   

The star is stamped off on scratch paper then on the white cardstock.  I thought the full strength Marina Mist was just a little too much for this card.  The lighter stamped color looked much better.  I then embossed in black the 'Let Earth Receive Her King' stamp.  So pretty.  I used the new Snow Burst Embossing Folder from the mini and sponged around the edges slightly.  I added a little scallop border at the top and to finish it some lace ribbon and the Marina Mist Scalloped ribbon.  So so pretty!!!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Swinging Friend

I'm so excited to you show you this card.  One because I got this stamp set, Forever Young, for FREE (more on that another day {smile}).  And two because it's so pretty, and it incorporates 2 of my most favorite things right now, Calypso Coral and sewing on cards.  If you didn't get a chance to see yesterdays card make sure you check it out. It's where my sewing on cards obsession began :)  This stamp set typically isn't my style but after I saw a few cards made with it, this one by Catherine Pooler specifically, I really wanted it.  I LOVE the card that Catherine made, so of course for the first card made with this set I had to copy her idea.  So CUTE! 

For the sewing, I stitched around all the sides of the cardstock with the tree on it.  I also stitched the ribbon onto the card.  So pretty!!  I can't wait to do more like that.  I have one card specifically in my head right now that as soon as I get a spare minute I'm gonna do it!!!  The rest of the card is pretty simple, the tree image was stamped twice, once on white then again on Calypso Coral.  I used my Full Heart punch to punch out the Calypso Coral image and then distressed the cardstock.  The greeting is from the stamp set Family Reunion.  I just love this card :)  It makes me happy!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Sew Pretty!

Before we get to the card I wanted to update on Monday's post.  I've gotten a lot of questions on the ornament.  I'm so glad you all like it and want to create them yourself.  The DSP is 1 1/2 x 12 scored every 1/4 inch, for more details or to see it you can check out Monday's post.  This card is soo beautiful!  I'm going to sew on my cards more often now!!!  Before we get into too many details of the card, let me say that I copied this card-again!  I'm an expert copier. For those of you out there that say "I'm not creative enough to do what you do."  Look at me!  I get inspiration all around me, there's so many tools for you to use.  But I do believe that if you're going to copy a card, make sure to mention where you got your inspiration.  So for this card, I saw this card and LOVED it!  I had to make it!!  I have this little craft sewing machine, that was made for projects just like this.  So I whipped it out and ta da!  My card was born!

Other than the sewing on this card the card is pretty easy to do.  I used my Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive markers to color my stamp.  I stamped it on my cardstock then lifted it and moved it slightly to the left and stamped it again.  You get a fantastic shadow image.  It looks so pretty!  I added some pearls to the flowers.  And a greeting from Friendly Phrases and it's done!  Simple as that!  It's 'sew' pretty!  I will be sewing more, I have lot's of ideas floating around this head of mine, stay tuned!  :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Celebrating Halloween and Thanksgiving

Here are the final 2 cards from my class on Saturday.  I love this little Halloween card.  This set, Out On A Limb, is sooo cute, and big thanks to my friend Carmelita for letting me borrow it!  There are so many cute pieces in this set and I wanted to show as many as I could for this card.  So we used the spiders, cloud, witch, and the branch.  So cute!!  The only thing missing in this set is a Halloween greeting.  I used my greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes. 

For the main image itself.  We stamped the branch then the witch and used markers to color her hair, tights, etc.  Stamped the spider and used the new Dazzling Details on him.  I love the new Dazzling Details in the summer mini.  It's such a cool easy way to add glitter and sparkle to your project!  We sponged the whole thing in Pear Pizzazz ink.  The Elegant Eggplant piece was embossed with the spider web embossing folder.  So cute and goes so well with all the little spiders. 

Since I can't make anything Halloween themed without adding a treat to it.  I had a little treat on the inside of this card.  Who doesn't love a card with candy in it?!

The last card that my guests got to make was a Thanksgiving card.  I have to apologize for not having a link to the inspiration for this card.  I know I saw a card similar to this somewhere but unfortunately for the life of me I can't find it.  But know this wasn't my original idea, though I'd certainly like to take credit for it :)  The leaves were rocked and rolled in Certainly Celery and Old Olive.  Then the outline of the leaf was stamped on top with Chocolate Chip.  They were cut out and attached to the card. 

The scalloped border behind the DSP layer isn't cardstock, nope, it's our scalloped ribbon!  Isn't that sweet and the cutest little idea EVER!  I LOVE IT!!!  Now I just need more of this ribbon in more colors!!!  That's all there is on this card.  It's simple but pretty and it would be really easy to make coordinating Thanksgiving decor (place cards, table decorations) to match this card. 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

It's Monday? Really?

I'm telling you I loose track every single weekend. All the sudden it's Monday and I wonder, where on earth did the weekend go?  If we could just add a couple hours to Saturday and Sunday that would be perfect.  I think I just need a couple hours then I'd be good.  But I did have a very nice weekend.  My Welcome Holiday's Class was Saturday, my guests got to make 4 projects using products from the Holiday Mini Catalog.  I'm showing 2 today and the other 2 tomorrow.  The 2 that I'm showing today were I think the most popular with my guests there.  I think everyone commented on this little ornament.  It was simple to make but looks so complicated!  I know I love this little ornament!  I want to make a bunch of them!  They're so cute!!!

Updated 9/13-I've been getting lots of questions on this so I thought update here. The paper for the ornament is a strip of DSP cut 1 1/2 x 12, score at every 1/4 inch.

This Christmas card was I think the 2nd most popular card.  And it's so simple!!!  I got the inspiration for this card from Splitcoast stampers and this card.  I saw that card and I thought, that is just beautiful I need to make that card.  So thanks to my friend Kim, I was able to borrow her set and use it for my class.  The card couldn't be easier.  The tree is embossed in white, with a little pearl in the center.  The card is embossed with the Tulip Border embossing folder.  It's so simple and so pretty! 

The cardstock that the tree is stamped on is also sponged around the edges in Elegant Eggplant to give it more dimension.  And of course I have to put on that ruffled ribbon.  PLEASE SU MAKE THAT RIBBON IN EVERY COLOR!!!  Tomorrow I'll show the other 2 projects, which were also very cute and a hit, but I think based on feedback these 2 were the most popular. 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

I Vote For Trouble!

I thought we'd end the week with some MDS!  It has been a while since I've shown some :)  I thought I'd highlight my little trouble maker in today's page.  She's full of trouble and is into everything.  She started crawling forward a few weeks ago and boy is she fast.  This is a completely different experience for me.  With Logan, he would crawl, never at warp speed like Megan, and usually when you said "no, no, leave that alone" he would!  Megan looks at you, laughs and keeps going.  She knows what she's doing, she's going to keep doing it and there's no stopping her!  These pictures were taken a few days ago.  Now normally I don't mind that she plays in the toy kitchen.  But as soon as I was done snapping the pictures, food started flying!  She started throwing the food everywhere, then she took off to the real kitchen to destroy it!  Fortunately the only cabinet she can get into in there is the plastic container one.  :)  I thought with Logan in school I'd have all this free time to 'catch up' on things (let's face it I just wanted stamp time, but we don't tell Dan that).  But instead I spend my days chasing her.  Now don't get me wrong, she's a joy to have and we're very blessed, but I just want her to slow down a little.  She's wearing me out :)  It's a good thing she's cute!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

It's So Simple.....

....it's scary!  Today's project is one that I literally made in under 5 minutes, it's that fast.  And it's sooo cute!  And it's the perfect size treat for anyone!  First of all, the inspiration for this project came from many places.  First though was Meg Loven's blog.  I saw this post on her blog yesterday and I just LOVED how she highlighted the spider and the most prominent "EEK!" with a circle punch.  Of course when I see things I love I copy them.  This one was so cute and so simple and so easy to mass produce them.  So I ran with her idea and made a little tag.  I used the It's A Wrap Holiday's from the Holiday Mini.  So cute!  Inspiration number two, I've wanted to use these adorable little mini cello bags ever since I got them a month ago, but could never find the right project.  I saw many posts with the cello bags with tags so that's what I did. 

For the tag itself, I embossed white on black and black on white.  I layered everything on Concord Crush Cardstock.  For the ribbon (shhhh it's retired) I used Elegant Eggplant.  I love that the purples match, but are just slightly different.  I LOVE using purple for Halloween projects.  Purples and greens are my most used Halloween colors :)  I filled the bag with candy corn, a favorite of my Dad and son.  So cute.  There's just enough candy corn for a nice treat but not enough that you get sick of them.  I don't know about you but 3 or 4 pieces is usually my limit on candy corn, they're just sooooo sweet.  I'm more of a chocolate kind of girl anyway.  But this is a nice treat for Logan or my Dad :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Make Up Bag, Made Better!

A couple weeks ago I was shopping with my Mom and we were at Bath and Body Works. They were giving this cute make up bag away with your purchase.  Well it's cute and pretty and all, but it's a little plain.  Enter Stampin' Up!  The Flirtatious Fabric matches almost perfectly to this bag.  So I just HAD to make a little fabric flower to go it.  This flower was made so quickly and randomly that if you asked me to make it again, I probably couldn't do it. 

I was rummaging through my supplies trying to find little embellishments for it.  I couldn't find my package of Neutral Buttons, I could have sworn I had a package but maybe I used them.  I did find some cute Pretty in Pink buttons, and the cute trinket Keys.  I had NO idea I had those :)  But for the flower.  I used my Big Shot and cut out 5 of each of the flowers from the Island Floral Die.  Then I folded them all in quarters and sewed them on top of each other.  Then I sewed the button on and lastly the little key.  It's pretty cute and I just love it! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!

Thanks Leaf Trio

I hope you all weren't waiting too long for this post.  The weekend kind of got away from me, isn't that always the case with a 3 day weekend.  I had every intention to have a project ready for this morning but it just didn't happen.  I knew I wouldn't get a chance to do it until late Tuesday afternoon, so here I am.  I was gone all day at our church.  We have an art gallery that changes shows every 3 months, or is it every 4 months.  I really don't know.  Either way I was down there all morning helping them take in the new pieces and take down the old ones.  Tomorrow I'll be down there again most of the day, this time hanging all the new pieces.  I have a class on Saturday that I really must prepare for :)  Not to worry I'm so excited for this class and I LOVE the projects.  There's still room if you'd like to come, just let me know by Thursday or early Friday. 

As far as the card today goes, it's pretty self explanatory, no mind blowing techniques used on it, but I do love the way it turned out and I LOVE the colors!  I had to take this picture at night, so I had to use the flash.  Dan needed it to mail in the morning.  So the colors are a little off in the picture but in real life they're beautiful.  They're More Mustard, Not Quite Navy and Cherry Cobbler.  It's a very simple card, no ribbon, no big embellishments, but then again, it doesn't need it! 

Thanks for hanging in there and checking back for today's post.  I'll be on time tomorrow :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Ummm, I'll be back...

Hi!  So while I'd love to have a spectacular stamped piece to show you, I don't.  Yesterday was my birthday and other than a little shopping, I did nothing.  No stamping, nothing.  If time is on my side I hope to be back later with a project.  Check back and thanks for stopping by!

The Same But Larger...

Thank you so much everyone for all your kind comments on the ornament from Friday.  I got a ton of compliments on it here and on Stampin' Connection (a website for SU Demos only).  I have a fairly long post today but I hope you read until the end.  But back to today's project, I had sooo much fun making that ornament that I wanted to make a larger one, more of a wreath to use this fall on our front door.  The Spice Cake DSP is so fabulous I kept going with that. Plus these colors match our house so well, hmmm maybe that's why I love this DSP so much!  This wreath was made the same way as the ornament, but just larger, MUCH larger!  It's about 12 inches in diameter.  The perfect size for a door.  I love it.  The layers are so pretty!!

For the cones I used 4x4 squares.  I apologize because I don't know the dimensions on anything else.  The scalloped Lolli, under the button, was done with 2 of the larger scallop circles from the scallop circles #2 die.  I saw how to do that on Heather Summer's blog.  She's awesome, and has sooo many fantastic ideas.  I love checking her blog! 

The wreath is very similar to the ornament, just larger and with a couple more layers.  I used lots of tombow multi adhesive on this and a glue gun to stick down each layer.  I generally don't like glue guns.  You have to work kinda fast and they leave the little glue gun trails, you know what I mean.  But for this project you really have to. So I dusted off my glue gun and finished it up.  I'm currently making a bunch of smaller ones that I'll be hopefully selling at craft shows this fall, I'll make sure and post them when I get more done.

So I asked you to stick around to the end of my post, why on earth would I have you do that?  Well I'm pretty excited.  So many things happened in just the past week I want to share a few of them with you.  Last Tuesday... I think it was Tuesday....I got this beautiful card in the mail from SU, yes it's a hybrid MDS card.  Why did SU send me this card.  Well today is my birthday, the big 3-0, and SU gives demos an extra 15% off any product they choose for their birthday.  So of course I placed that order right away.  But I wanted to celebrate with all of you too!!!  So for this month, I'm going to give away a $30 shopping spree!  WOW!!!  Everyone that places an order of at least $30 or more in the month of September will be entered. It's as simple as that!  Place 2 orders, you're entered 2 times, etc.  You have until September 30 to get those orders to me.  Orders can be place at classes, workshops, my website or you can just email me or call me with your order!  Good Luck!!!  I had a couple more exciting things happen over the weekend, but I'll share those with you later!    

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Trim The Tree

Let's start decorating the Christmas tree!  I'm so stinkin' excited about today's project.  There's a big story behind it too, so lets get to that.  My awesome friend Joanna sent me a picture from the Holiday Mini catalog, (page 28 for those of you that have the catalog in hand).  She asked if I knew how to make those ornaments.  I knew I had seen them done somewhere.  So I told her, when life settled a little (who was I kidding) I'd try them out.  So after we got the first day of school out of the way, Logan's birthday party done and were in a routine, I sat down and stared at the picture and tried and tried and tried.  Nothing I did looked like the ornament.  At this time I was convinced that the cones were made from triangle pieces of DSP.  There's my B- in geometry showing it's ugly head, I hated geometry.  Ironically I was always much better at algebra, I loved algebra-still do!  Now, with card making I use geometry all the time.  Go figure!  But I'm getting off track.  So after trying and trying and trying and getting no where with the triangles.  I sat down to email Joanna back to tell her I was sorry and I didn't know how to do it after all. 

Literally about 1 minute after the email was sent, I knew exactly how it was done!  All this time I was working with triangles and the key was squares!!  DUH!!!!  So I got busy again.  This time it was coming together-Yay!!!  I did it!  I figured it out!  Dan and Logan were off at Lowes or somewhere, Megan was sleeping and I was doing a happy dance!  So after I got a couple cones done I kept going!  This ornament took 15 cones all together. The squares were 2x2 and the completed ornament is about 6 inches wide. 

Once I got the cones complete I glued them all down to a 1 3/4 inch circle.  I finished decorating it with some of our new buttons from the Holiday Mini and a DSP Lolli under that.  The DSP I used is our new Spice Cake DSP from the Holiday Mini.  I just bought more of this DSP, it's so awesome, I think it's some of my favorite DSP of all time!!!  It's that good!!!!  I used some linen thread in the center of the button.  I added a ribbon to hang it on the tree with our Soft Suede Taffeta.  So pretty!

So how did I make it?  Well you DO need a square, as I finally figured out.  You take your square and roll it into a cone.  DSP works well for this because it's flexible and not as thick as cardstock. 

Once you have it rolled glue it together to hold it's shape.  I used Tombow multi glue on my ornament, it worked well.  I did consider using sticky strip, but the advantage to Tombow over Sticky Strip is that if you make a mistake or don't get it rolled right, you can readjust it (if you work quickly before the glue dries).  With sticky strip, once it's stuck, it's stuck. 

Have a great weekend!  For my USA friends, be safe for the holiday weekend!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Simply Beautiful!

I'm still can't get over how much I love this card.  Isn't it just so stunning and soooo beautiful?!  And it's so simple!  I have to say that this was not my original idea, though I'd love for it to be :)  I copied almost exactly from Connie Collins card.  Connie is one of this years Artisan Award winners.  I've been following her blog for a while and I love her work.  Make sure you check out her blog after your stop here.  You won't be disappointed! 

I wanted to keep my card like Connie's, her's was already beautiful, why change it?  I did use a couple more layers of cardstock.  I often find it challenging not to use multiple layers.  Plus I don't like to have ribbon through the inside of the card.  It's ok if others want to do it, and I will never stop you.  But when I make a card, I really don't like the ribbon on the inside.  :)   I did go back and forth many, many times about using Pearls or Rhinestones.  I'm glad I stuck with the pearls. :)

Today is September 1!  Do you know what that means?????  Our Holiday Mini goes LIVE today!!!  If you haven't had a chance to see it, make sure you check it out, in my opinion it's one of the best mini catalogs we've ever had!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!