Hurry--Time Is Running Out!!!

If you haven't signed up for Paper Pumpkin you only have until Saturday to sign up and get your first 2 months free for only $10 a month!!!  It's easy to sign up and every month you'll get a box in mail filled with a fun project(s) to make!!!  When you sign up use the promotion code PUMPKINDEAL.  Sign up here and make sure to mention me as your demonstrator :)  If you're still a little undecided let me share the cards from this month.  I changed my cards just slightly :)  I just love the little bike though so I used it alot!!! 

I kept the same colors and used all of the elements that came in the box.  They're so much fun to put together!!!  Have I convinced you yet???  Paper Pumpkin also makes a GREAT gift!!  Do you have someone that could use a fun crafting escape every month?  Paper Pumpkin is also great for kids.  Do you have a kid in your life who would love to get a surprise in the mail every month?

This last one is my favorite of the three.  I did step it up quite a bit.  That's just one of the great things about Paper Pumpkin, you can add as much or as little to it as you want!  There's no rules and the possibilities are endless!!!  So make sure to sign up BEFORE SATURDAY to get it for only $10 per month for your first two months!  Use PUMPKINDEAL at checkout and mention me as your demonstrator!   

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Mike and Sully

 I thought I'd take a minute to share the card that my Mom made for Logan for his birthday.  You might recognize these guys, it's Mike and Sully from Monster's Inc./Monster's University.  We took Logan to see that movie when it was released and then he spotted some toys from the movie that he *had* to have from the Disney Store.  So my parents bought him the toys for his birthday and my Mom made the matching card.  Cute huh?!  I'm not sure what punches she used, there's some oval, circles and the word window for sure :)  Have a good weekend, it's a busy one for me, but I'm so super excited about it!!!!!  I should have TONS of great projects to share with you next week!

 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

It's Your Day

Yesterday was Logan's day.  It was his 7th birthday.  I was sooooooo behind on his card that it didn't get made until after I dropped him off for school.  So it was late afternoon before he even got a card from his parents :/  We already had 2 parties for him (one with friends, one with family), so gifts he's already gotten and has played with....that reminds me gotta get to work on those thank you's.....I'm getting distracted.  Here's the card I made Logan.  It's very bright, the image is fun and kid friendly, it was a hit!  I did add ribbon to the card, which for guys I generally steer clear of, but since he's still young it worked ;)

The card base is from this month's paper pumpkin kit, as well as the crushed curry border on the bottom.  I loved the spotted card in this month's kit and it went so well with the plan I had in my head, so it all worked out!  I used the Tag It set and Chalk Talk dies for this card.  I colored the image with my markers and stamped it before running it through the big shot.  I love the embellished tag!  Of course no card is complete without a little stamping from the Gorgeous Grunge set!  I stamped it along the top and then added some torn cardstock, it adds the perfect amount of design!  Overall I do love this card!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Wrapping Up The Class

Time for the last two cards from my Makin' Cards For Men class on Saturday.  The first up today is super duper simple!!  The DSP really does all the work here.  There is even minimal stamping!  I used the 2013-2015 Incolor DSP stack, we used the chevron pattern.  They were just cut into different widths and layered on.  The tag was made with the Gorgeous Grunge set and the Yippee Skippee Set.  Both sets are keepers!!  We finished the tag with a thought bubble clip and some of the new burlap ribbon from the Holiday Catalog. 

The last card is probably my favorite from the whole class!!!!  I love the Daffodil Delight and Smoky Slate with that pop of Real Red!  We used the Tag It set.  Which is also the Ronald McDonald House set for this year.  When you buy this set Stampin' Up! donates $3 to the Ronald McDonald House.  SU has donated over one million dollars to the RMHC, your purchase is going toward a great cause.  But back to the card, we used markers to color the shovels, the little heart is from the owl punch.  It had just the size heart we needed!  We stamped the 'I did you' greeting then used the 1 inch circle punch to punch it out.  The greeting and shovel come as one image but I cut the greeting off of my image and mounted them separately on my wood block.  I thought both were cute enough to stand on their own, plus it opens up so many more creative options having them separated.  Don't be afraid to cut your stamps apart, make them work for you!   

 

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

Cards For Men

I had a class over the weekend, the theme was masculine cards.  I know this is something that I don't do well.  Since you can't load up masculine cards with glitter and ribbon I'm always at a loss :)  However I do think the cards from my class came out pretty cute, or nice or however you describe a masculine card!  My guests at my class got to make 5 cards, here's the first 3.  The first one uses the new Wetlands set.  THE perfect masculine set!  We stamped the goose in Early Espresso then the grass was stamped in Soft Suede, after stamping it on some scratch paper so it wasn't full strength. 

One of the things I do love about masculine cards is that they're usually simple and quick to put together!  A HUGE plus!!  This next card was a huge hit.  What guy doesn't drink coffee (well besides Dan)?  I used the sweater weather DSP from the Holiday Catalog, and we added some background stamping with the Gorgeous Grunge set.  Have you gotten this set yet???

The next card is one of my favorites!!!  I love the colors, Summer Starfruit, Marina Mist and Real Red.  The background is stamped with the Dictionary Background Stamp.  We used the hexagon embossing folder and stamp set.  We finished the card with a brad and a candy dot----don't you LOVE THOSE!!!!?!!  I'll share the other two cards tomorrow.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Pumpkin Treats

Aren't these cute!!!!  I LOVE them!!!  They're so cute and soooooooooooo easy to make.  Did I mention they were easy!  Logan loved them, I think he stole a couple, but this is the BEST treat for class gift.  First of all they're suckers so they're 'nut free' as both of my kids schools are, plus they fast to put together so you could sit and make a whole class full in no time!  For the pumpkins I used 3 of the large ovals in Pumpkin Pie cardstock, sponged around each one in Pumpkin Pie ink then just glued them together,  really it's THAT easy!  you could draw on a little jack o lantern face if you wanted too.  The stem is just hand cut from a scrap. 

 

For the little boxes.  I used a piece of cardstock that was 2x6 1/2.  I scored the long side at 2, 4 and 6.  They fold up into little triangles you punch a hole in the top and that's it.  Seriously that it!  I told you they were easy!!!  I put a little tootsie roll pop in mine but really any sucker would do.  I can't wait to make more of these!!!!    

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

My First Crack At Undefined

I am by no means an artist, don't claim to be one.  I'm a pretty good paper crafter and stamper with other people's art, but I'm not the artist.  So when Stampin' Up! introduced this new line of stamps that you can carve yourself, I was, well not entirely excited.  I was curious, enough to buy it anyway.  I've seem amazing things done with it.  I knew mine wouldn't be so grand.  But I did want to give it a go.  I drew up this little penguin, more on him in a minute. I carved him.  I took about 20 minutes.  Overall I'm about 90% pleased with him.  He's not perfect, he's got a few imperfections (don't we all).  But I think he's cute and I'll probably use him more, Logan will use him for sure. 

Where did a get a penguin.  Well I wanted to carve something, I don't have a symbol or anything that 'defines' me (at least none that I can think of, if you know of something please let me know).  So then I started thinking more about what I love.  This little penguin card sits above my desk on a clipboard.  He's lived there for years.  So long that the cardstock is faded, due to being exposed to the sun.  But I love him, he's one of my all time favorite punched guys.  I love this little penguin!  So I thought, we'll why not turn him into a stamp.  Well as you can see my drawing it not quite the same, however it's a close relative.  So then I carved. 

 

Things I'd like to improve on:  Accuracy of cutting.  The rubber is easy to carve.  The undefined kit comes with tools that cut through the rubber easily and quickly.  However I did notice that it's easy to get carried away, perhaps cut something you don't mean to cut.  For example, the little blade got away from me and cut a little into his beak.  I didn't even notice it until it was stamped, and it became clear.  It's not a huge issue or concern, but if I were to do him again I'd defiantly watch it a little more. 

I gave his wings and the 'black' part of the penguin a little texture on the rubber.  Mostly because I wanted some details and I wanted the beak and eyes to pop and not get lost in the rubber.  So I just used one of my carving tools and gently cut into it, just to give it some texture.  I also carved him a scarf and hat, I thought he needed it and it will be fun to dress him up.  So that's my undefined story.  He's not perfect.  I knew anything I did wouldn't be.  But it was fun, and easier than I thought it would be.  So give it a try! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Twice In One Week? WHAT???

I'm getting back into an MDS groove :)  I'm still by no means caught up on anything, nor have I made huge progress on either of my albums, my Christmas gift list or any other project I'm working on.  But I am getting 1-2 pages done a night.  I think it would go quicker if I weren't so OCD about everything.  It's weird, I'm not that way when I stamp but in MDS I turn into crazy scrapbooking lady!  Oh well I love my pages and maybe it's because I'm a little crazy :)  This page I made Tuesday night, Tuesday was the first day of school for Logan and Megan.  Logan started 2nd grade and Megan started preschool.  Megan was so excited!!!  She coudn't stop smiling, check out the little picture of her on the bottom on the left, isn't that the sweetest little smile ever!!!  I LOVED this page by Erica, so I used that for inspirataion and created this page.  I love love love it!!!!  I love mixing black and white pictures with colored ones.  It really makes a difference and changes your focal point instantly! 

 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Make A Stack

Remember this card from Monday?  I still love it and thanks for all the kind notes about it.  I'm glad you love it too!  Inspired from that card I decided to make a stack of quick note cards.  I made ten of these note cards, 2 in each of the 5 colors in under an hour.  I started with the white note cards we sell, they're SO EASY and QUICK!  I kept my cards simple, monochromatic and cute! 

Of course I pulled out my Gorgeous Grunge set for this---seriously you NEED THIS SET!!!!  I created the butterfly exactly the same way as on Monday's card.  I used the bitty scallop circle and added a rhinestone in the center.  I love the 'hello' on this card, it makes the cards so versatile.

Every card features the new gray Smoky Slate.  This is the perfect gray!  This might be my favorite neutral color.......right after crumb cake:)  So get out there, make a stack of cards.  You'll be so glad to have them around! 

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

More Disney Pages

Make no mistake, though it seems like I'm making progress on my Disney album I'm not.  Every time I get one page done I think of about 12 others that I want to do.  I'm hoping that I can finish it by the end of the year (perhaps in time for Christmas?????)  Plus I'm trying to work on our everyday album.  So many pages....so little time :)  But anyway, I did get a couple pages done after a slight MDS crisis last week.  I thought I had lost my entire album but after a call to SU it was restored!  Whew!!!!!  This was the page I was working on when my crisis happened.  Once it was fixed I changed the entire look of my page :)  Isn't that always how it goes!  I love the final look of this page.  I decided to go black and white for the picture that Megan is in.  It's a little blurry and didn't look great in color but in black and white it's not as easy to tell that it's not entirely in focus.  I really wanted to use that picture, she's so cute clapping along to the show, so I just tied in the grays to the rest of the page. 

 

The next page I was planning while we were on our trip.  Thanks to a tropical storm passing over Florida while we were there we had more rain than we expected.  So we bought ponchos and made the best of it.  Since we're from New Mexico we don't see that kind of rain I knew the pictures would be perfect in our album.  We might not remember every detail from the trip, but we'll remember the rain :)  I love this final page.  It's bright and fun, and the pictures are pretty cute ;)  Today is the first day of school for both Logan and Megan, we're all a little excited here!

Thanks for looking see you soon!!!!

Rainbow Butterflies

I can't tell you how much I love this card.  This card was inspired by this card that I came across on split coast stampers.  It's so pretty!  I just love it!!!  I mailed this card to a friend, thought I almost didn't send it at all I was so fond of it :)  But in the end I knew it would brighten my friends day, and she would truly appreciate it.  And I can always make another one :)  I also lined the envelope using the new framelits from the Holiday Catalog.  Those are definitely one of my favorite new products in the catalog!  It adds so much to the entire project, LOVE IT!!!!   

 

Let's talk some more about the card.  I used the Gorgeous Grunge set.  This set is so versatile if only own one set THIS is the set to own (but lets face it who own just one set?)!  It's so much more than a 'background' set.  So when I saw the card on split coast I knew I'd be making my own version.  I didn't want to use buttons, too bulky.  But I wanted something....the bitty butterfly was perfect!     

Once the butterflies were on the card they were still missing something.  Then the bitty flower and rhinestone came out.  It completed the butterflies, I was finally happy.  Though I didn't intend it, it ended up being one of those cards that just keeps progressing.  Finally it needed a greeting.  Nothing looked quite right just stamped on the paper and I thought it needed another accent to balance it so I stamped the greeting on a scrap piece, turned it into a banner and added a button.  Finally the card was done!  I'm so pleased with this card!  I LOVE IT!!!!

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

Blog Hop-RIBBON!

Welcome to this month's blog hop!  If you just arrived from Michelle's blog welcome.  If this is your first stop make sure you hop all the way through, when you get back here, you've made a complete loop.  This month we're focusing on ribbon!!!!  There's a million and two things you can do with ribbon, it's the best accessory, it adds color, texture, dimension and soooo much more!  I don't have nearly enough ribbon :)  But the ribbon that I do have I store in my ribbon roll control holders.  They're the BEST!!!  Our friend Trish invented them, you'll love them check 'em out! 

 

So I debated back and forth what do I want to do with ribbon??  A fun card perhaps???  No I want to make Megan some hair clips!  So using our ribbon I made 3 different clips.  Megan loves 2 of the 3 :/  Guess I was 66% successful??  With our ribbon I made a ghost for Halloween, a flower and my favorite a hedgehog!  CUTE!!!! 

First, we'll start with the one Megan likes least.  The ghost.  Perhaps it's because she's unsure of what it is.  Dan thought is was a jellyfish (MEN!).  Maybe around Halloween she'll understand it more.  This was defiantly the easiest of the 3.  I covered the top of the ribbon with white grosgrain, then I glued (hot glue on all of these) strips of ribbon down vertically.  Added some eyes and a bow.  CUTE! 

Next is the flower.  I love this one!  Our ruffled ribbon is PERFECT for this!!!  Because it's ruffled on one side it's easy to make and sits flat!  I just looped the ribbon to make petals, again hot glue is your friend....just don't burn yourself.  The petals are glued to a small roll of Summer Starfruit ribbon, which has a pearl on top of that.  Then I covered a clip with Gumball Green ribbon and glued the flower to the clip.  LOVE it!!  The texture of the ruffles is perfect for this little flower!!!

Finally the hedgehog.  She's adorable!  I did use some retired ribbon (shhhh)  The chocolate chip grosgrain is retired.  But it's the only brown I had that would work.  This was the first one I made, and I won't lie, it took a while!  I saw a clip similar to it on Pintrest (where else!).  It looked easy enough but I didn't know how many loopy things I would need, I had to keep making them, it was never enough.  And again, hot glue was my best friend.  I started with his nose, for that I used our natural cotton ribbon, I made a cone with it and glue it together.  I colored his nose with a black permanent marker.  Then I just stared gluing the loops, I started along the back of his head, then kept making layers, and glued it to the layer prior to it.  I had pretty big hedgehog but was still unsure how to attach it to the clip.  In the end I just put a layer of hot glue and stuck it down.  It worked!!!!

 

Megan loves this one.  Though she likes to play with it more than wear it :/  Hmmmmm.  But it looks super duper cute in all her curls! 

Now it's time to continue on with the blog hop.  Next up is Amber!  I'm sure she'll have an inspirational project for you! 

 

Here's the blog hop line up in case you get lost along the way. 

 

Ruth Norton YOU ARE HERE!

Amber Wilson

Nichole Gonzales Jaramillo

Kay Jantz

Liz Kay

Carmelita Wasson

Cassie Rogers
Michelle Carrion

 

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

Swaps!

Tuesday night was our demo meeting.  So much fun!  Here's a few of the swaps from the meeting. I'll share the rest later ;)

 

This is Cassie's swap.  Love this card.  It's festive and fun! 

This is Karen's card.  There's so much glitter on this card, it just makes me happy!!!  CUTE!

This is Carmelita's card.  We used the same DSP but have very different cards.  LOVE it!

This is Nichole's.  I love the stamped chevron background and the little accents of washi tape!

This is Kay's card.  The expressions thinlits are so much fun!

 

Tomorrow is our blog hop, check back!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!